Piece of Parchment

by Metemponychosis

Red Dawn, Pt. III

Things always go according to plan inside one’s head.

Gast and Gustav were supposed to move in and shoot the two mercenaries before they reacted. No unnecessary drama, no unnecessary noise. The guards around the Chancellor’s Palace wouldn’t hear anything and the two would open the doors to Gail’s room. Once they were done increasing his already substantially large mass by means of filling him with lead, they would leave and find the others at the teleporter. The teleporter facility would be already secured and operational. The way to Thunderpeak would be open and then a short trip to Wayfarer’s Rest would put them in the safety of the Allmother’s domain.

Gast walked with sure steps and Gustav followed suit. Weapon under his wing, he took a few steps before one of the unsuspecting mercenaries saw them. A large griffon wearing leather armor modified with metal plates. He carried a collection of old firearms as well as a polearm he held with the butt on the expensive carpet. He held a relaxed stance, sitting on his haunches, and not suspecting a thing.

One was white and black, while the other, younger but old enough to have seen his share of combat, was two shades of gray. His weaponry was similar to his companion’s, much as his armor.

A stray thought occurred to Gast that they were probably from the same mercenary company. It was good. Nobody deserves to die alone.

When the first one saw him, his reaction was completely innocuous. The mercenary nodded respectfully and only when Gast stood on his hindlegs, reaching under his wing, the mercenary realized something was not right. Too late, as Gast shot him three times. Twice in the chest, once in the head. Same as Gustav did.

It was over within seconds. But as someone had once said, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

As if the cracks from their pistols were not unnervingly loud in the silent hallway, one of the mercenaries tried to reach for his pistol and the thing discharged. It was loud. Like Harmony itself wanted to alert every single guard in the building.

“Damnit!” Gustav breathed angrily, as surprised as Gast was.

“We have to get this done now!” Gast turned around, looking down the corridor. No one was there yet, but his nervousness reached his voice. He knew griffons in the resting room heard that shot but the bend half-way didn’t allow him vision of the stairs. He doubted that all the soldiers present in the building would ignore a gunshot in the middle of the night.

“Shoot the lock!” Gustav took distance from the doors and Gast promptly shot the area around the bolt four times before the larger griffon hurled himself and crashed it open.

Beyond was a large and luxurious room shrouded in darkness. Only some light came in through the windows and the curtains, but the bed was readily visible from the doorway. They wasted no time. Gustav fired until his weapon clicked several times, but Gast only fired two shots before he noticed the bed was empty.

“He’s not here.” Gustav spoke incredulously and Gast simply stared as they approached the empty bed, riddled with bullet holes until the dark griffon started laughing. Gustav guffawed louder than Gast would’ve liked, but he supposed it didn’t matter anymore. “Of course, he’s not here.”

Thoughts concerning the irony of the Chancellor missing his murder as he usually missed his official appointments failed to improve on Gast’s mood. They were interrupted prematurely when the inevitable happened and a griffon shouted from the door behind him. The voice was that of the soldier he spent some minutes distracting at the stairs. “Sir! Drop your weapon!”

Gustav reacted faster and brought his pistol to bear at the soldier, but it only clicked when he pulled the trigger. The soldier’s weapon was loaded, however. An old, loaded musket was still more useful than an empty fancy northerner pistol. Suppressor or no. Before Gast could do anything, the soldier’s weapon spit fire and smoke in the dark of the room. Gustav went down with a cry just as Gast shot the soldier. He fell too, with a lifeless collapse. But Gustav laid on the floor with a guttural grunt and his paws held over a wound in his neck. It let out blood at an alarming rate and stained the fancy carpet.

“Ah, damnit!” The black griffon let out a pained sigh. Still, he cried and gurgled out the pained words when Gast approached him. “Get out! There is nothing you can do!”

That was not supposed to have happened, but they both knew what they were getting into. And Gast’s disciplined control over his firearm told him he had no more bullets in it. But the soldier had a standard issue sidearm, a loaded wheellock pistol. He took it in his paw and protected himself against the door’s frame. Right on cue, the GSA soldiers on guard duty arrived and took cover behind the bend in the corridor. One sat low on his haunches, and another stood on his hindlegs, with two more using them for cover. All of them aiming their muskets at the door Gast hid behind.

“Sir!” Cried one of them whose voice Gast didn’t recognize. “Stand down and drop your weapons! I can promise you a fair trial and dignity.”

Probably the guard’s commander. He would know well that Gast was his superior. An acquaintance he had wormed his way closer as this day would come, eventually. Gast’s rank, both the reason he was chosen for the mission and Guella had approached him, was still valid after all, and the lieutenant would remember him. If only Gast remembered him too. It wouldn’t make any difference, but it felt wrong to fight against his colleagues not even knowing their names.

He stole a glance at his weapon, taken from the soldier he had killed. Even then, not much of a fight to be had in that corridor.

Gast was not supposed to have such attachments, but that was one of those few competent officers who carried the GSA and all its incompetence. He was there, risking life to do his job, after all. But still Gast wouldn’t shoot them simply because it was pointless, not because of such attachments. He secured the weapon under his wing and hopped to the window behind the closest curtain. He could open it, but he couldn’t fly through the bars on the other side. Another door would lead to a bathroom, but the windows would be barred too.

If nothing else, Chancellor Gail took his own security very seriously. Shame the two mercenaries had to die for naught.

“Sir, please don’t make us shoot at you!” The voice called from the hallway again. “Let’s talk! Do you remember the last Open Gates Day at the Fort? You congratulated me on the promotion and Miss Guella had made meatloaves. Our kids played in the yard.”

Memories rushed and Gast cursed them under his breath. Was it too much to imagine his fellow officer wouldn’t want to hurt him because he too was one of those competent few? If only they didn’t disagree on how to fix Griffonia.

“I understand, sir.” The lieutenant’s earnest words came from the hallway. “They’ll trial you for treason, but you can make a deal and let Guella and your kids out of this.”

Gast’s eyes widened. Could he trust them? His mission had failed, but he could secure safety for his family. And even if he was likely to be executed, the documents their accomplice had photographed would make their way to Griffindell. Maybe he could see his mate and his children again. No. The secret service wouldn’t ever allow it. Especially if they would be conniving with Gail’s corruption. The corruption in all of the GSA High Command.

“Gast. Let me help you.” The soft voice he heard from the corridor filled him with dread. “There is no need for further bloodshed.”

“Princess!” The lieutenant’s voice too came from the hallway. “Please, stay back!”

“Don’t worry, lieutenant.” Her voice replied. “He can’t hurt me.”

He didn’t need to look to see her approaching. Her gilded hooves made muffled sounds every hooffall on the carpet. Her presence was like the break of dawn, slowly washing over him with the sun’s warmth. Drawing closer as the sunrise.

Gustav laid on the floor. As motionless and limp as the soldier Gast had shot. The pools of blood joined together, both red and indistinguishable. A low-ranking soldier that didn’t want to be there but was loyal to still put down his life for a military that served a corrupt government. And a traitor, also ready to put down his life because he believed the nation ought to change.

Cruel fate they were both dead and the figurative head of the problem that plagued their nation was not.

His life rushed before him. In his early years out of the Officers Academy, he was a promising young griffon that swore loyalty to Griffonia. Sent to represent the brass in the Grand Galloping Gala, he met the alicorns. He laid his loyalty at their hooves and became an informal observer. He was supposed to help the Princesses see what went on inside the Griffonian Standing Army. For its own good because they knew that corruption already ran deep in the Griffonian government. They knew he would climb ranks and positions and would eventually become a tool to help them understand the issues that plagued Gast’s motherland.

It was the same year he met Guella. An exotic creature out of Snow Mountains. With her accent and almost supernatural beauty. The poise of a queen and the sharp tongue of a northerner native. He stood no chance against her. Once again, Gast had laid his loyalty at someone’s feet.

She became the mother of his cubs and educated them on the ways of the northerner nobles. She raised his cubs like they were vassals of The Lion, stranded in the filth of Griffonstone. She raised them Children of The Harpy, the noblest of griffons among the spoiled blood of the Saddani.

Hopefully, Guella and his cubs would already be in Thunderpeak. Hopefully, the Mother of Storms would have a place for a disloyal griffon in her halls.

If anything, his loyalty wouldn’t fail again. Before Celestia’s agents would have a chance to extract information that must not fall at her hooves, he put the pistol under his jaw and pulled the trigger.

***

The group of griffons scurried like scared rats across the city under his leadership. Judging by the number of griffons that needed to be moved out of Griffonstone, Godwin supposed that others did the same. He didn’t think that anyone had thought of that, but a lot of griffons rushing along the dark corners would certainly draw attention.

Along the way they had bumped into another group, but they had no weapons, no one that knew what they were doing. So, despite some complaining, Godwin told them to follow. The group doubled in size, but at least those griffons would be safer than they were before. The event made Godwin think. He hoped that even if the groups would be stopped by the authorities, at least a few of them would make it to the teleporter on their own.

That was the sort of strategic thinking that they had taught him at the ‘camp’ when his family traveled to Frozenlake. Lady Geena had separated him from his sister to be with the other toms. At his young age he had thought it was because mixing teenagers of both genders was a recipe for cubs.

At the time, he didn’t know what the other group was taught, but he learned a lot of things. How to operate, clean and repair several firearms, concealment tactics and strategic thinking. That losses were often unavoidable and that it was better to do what was achievable. They taught him problem solving and practical skills. Of the sort one might need if they were to sabotage a factory or lead a group of clueless griffons across the city in the middle of a rainy night. Especially if the authorities were already hunting them.

They had talked about it once, and Georgia was taught the same in her female’s group. But when they got to the part about Lady Geena teaching the young queens about ‘girl stuff’ the conversation got too awkward. However, she hadn’t paid as much attention as he had. Georgia’s aspirations were different. Godwin was fine learning that stuff and thought it was quite cool, but Georgia wanted to paint, not burn or blow up stuff.

He supposed it had never occurred to her there was a reason they were teaching them those things. But he knew she did alright. She just froze. He had never shot at a griffon before either, but he was afraid those militiagriffons would hurt her. When he remembered that they were fleeing the city, he told the griffons to high tail it out of there and he led them towards the teleporter. Part of the training too… Know the region. Know how to move and get to places.

Thank the Lord of Chaos, they didn’t run into the Local Militia or the Army. But then again, Godwin knew what he was doing. He had led them through secondary streets, flown low over backyards under the cover of dark and as silently as they could. The only thing that almost went wrong was when they almost ran into a Local Militia patrol. But they were lucky the militiagriffons moved in another direction and Godwin managed to keep his griffons calm and hidden behind the corner. The architecture helped too, as they were in a street with commercial buildings, basically a square corner that couldn’t have made hiding and watching from afar easier.

The real problems started soon after.

The teleporter facility was basically a large building that housed the teleporter pads and their magical components. It resembled a train station, with the terminals switched for teleportation pads. It stood in the center of a particularly rich area of the city. A commercial center that allowed visitors to teleport in, check in at their hotel and visit the fancy stores. At best, tourists would see the beautiful and rich mansions without ever distancing themselves too much from the teleporter and chancing into the poorer areas of the city.

That meant the teleporter was in a large plaza surrounded by countless streets, most of them too wide for them to cross safely. The group was forced to squeeze into the alleys. They were filthy and home to mice and insects, which made the city griffons anxious. But adults kept the cubs under control and the most antsy of them resisted. The threat of militia and military patrols was larger than crawling insects or stepping on slimy grime.

‘At least in the snowfields there are no cockroaches.’ Someone joked to a nervous kid and managed to draw a few chuckles.

Things went wrong when Godwin and two of the armed adults poked their heads out of the alleyway. It was between a large hotel and a restaurant that unceremoniously dumped waste into the alley. Which in tune made the pest problem worse. For better or worse, it provided a good cover, and it let them see across the street that circled the plaza and the teleporter facility. From the side, towards the front. It was a good position to survey the plaza and the facility’s entrance.

During the day, the plaza was a colorful community area, much like King Grover’s statue. It would be taken by griffons selling things on stands and kids making some money by selling toasted seeds to tourists. The cobblestone floor was painted in spontaneous and colorful street art, but that was damaged when griffons lost their spirit. There were benches and even a gazebo where musicians would perform.

All that before the tall and wide doors into the facility that could fool anyone into thinking it was indeed a train station. A beautiful and modern one at that. Built in manehattian architecture, complete with a clock above the doors. Which it didn’t need, because teleportation was on demand, not scheduled. But it looked nice.

That rainy night, the public lighting let them see clearly into the plaza, and it was taken by griffons in green uniform. Thick green jackets, with gold details. Soldiers armed with muskets and wearing the ridiculous plate-shaped helmet of the Griffonian Standing Army. Groups of griffons, northerner supporters were there too. Godwin supposed they arrived and found the plaza under guard. They surrendered and now the GSA soldiers identified and sorted them. Weapons and possessions were confiscated, and they were interrogated under improvised tents next to be sent into covered paddocks to wait.

Typical GSA incompetence Godwin squinted at as he studied the situation. They outnumbered the soldiers. It would be better to send them somewhere else and keep them separated. But then again, maybe they lacked the numbers if they were scouring the city for dissidents. Maybe the troops at the Fort were busy or hadn’t been mobilized. It was a waste of time to try and understand why the GSA did things the way it did. The fact was that a single spark could ignite that metaphorical powder keg and then there would be a bloodbath. Unfortunately, Godwin’s allies would be on the losing side, despite heavy losses on the other side. The GSA had training, muskets, bayonets, polearms, and pistols.

“This is bad…” The griffon next to Godwin whispered in his hoarse voice. Nobody special, he was one of the city’s merchants that sided with the northerners. Just a tan and white griffon under a barely functional black raincoat. “What do we do?”

“What do you mean what do we do?!” They turned to look at the impatient hen that simultaneously spoke as loud and as soft as she could. The same one that had been giving his sister grief. Miss Gahra. Godwin wondered if she understood the situation at all.

Speaking of her, Georgia stood next to the griffons in the front of the group that had stretched into the alley. In a normal situation, his sister would have rolled her eyes. Maybe she would have said something sarcastic. But her eyes were wide, and her feet jittery. She was scared, and it was normal in that situation. Griffons reacted differently to it. Or so Godwin had been taught. However, it worried him that his sister froze like she did, and then she took it really bad. She had almost cried and broken down.

He should have taken the weapon from her and given it to someone else, but he didn’t have the heart. It was stupid, and his teachers back at the camp would slap him for putting the group, including his sister in danger, but he just couldn’t. Yet, given the present predicament, it wouldn’t be that much of a difference anyways.

“Lady, shut your beak.” Said one of the armed griffons with Godwin. Younger than the other and much more sanguine.

The other kept his eyes on the plaza. “What is it with that guy?”

He meant a particularly ‘particular’ griffon with a megaphone. He stood beneath the largest tent with a group of other griffons that seemed to rummage through confiscated possessions. Just a sand yellow and white griffon, no clothing, or any distinctive characteristics, that just kept spouting annoying assurances of leniency in the most obnoxious way possible.

“Citizens of Griffonstone: a dangerous dissident group has been spreading a pernicious and treacherous ideology in our great city. Anything you may have heard is a lie designed to divide us! For your safety, I urge you to stay in your homes! If you have been contacted by dissidents, please surrender, and comply with instructions from our brave soldiers. I can guarantee your safety, and that of your families. As per orders from the Chancellor, you will be granted amnesty for your cooperation!”

“I feel a sudden urge to punch that guy.” Another griffon that moved closer from the group said. A larger-than-most blue and cyan griffon with a shotgun strapped to his back. “What’s up with him?”

“Probably Blackfeather Corps.” Godwin stared calmly.

“Is that bad?” The heckling hen gasped, making way in between them.

While the two griffons glared at her with less than friendly expressions, their impromptu leader Godwin kept his stare on the griffon with the megaphone. “Well… Field agents are good at extracting information, for one.”

“Ouch…” She grimaced.

If the GSA had stationed themselves outside of the teleporter facility, which had the main entrance closed, it was likely not operational. Why were they not inside, though? But there was something else that worried him, and his sister Georgia said it as she approached with a shaky voice. “Godwin… Where’s Mamma?”

She still carried their little sister Giza on her back, but fortunately she was fast asleep.

“I’m sure she’s fine.” He hoped he hid his insecurity well enough, as his voice came out steady. It was one of the things they had taught him. Leadership means lying if he must maintain morale. “We need to worry about ourselves now.”

She lowered her gaze, but her expression remained a worried frown. Godwin still had to figure out how to deal with the situation and turned away, back to the plaza. He watched and listened to the Blackfeather agent, and he was about to ask for suggestions.

One of the griffons in their group, an armed volunteer that was in the back, came forward bringing a tall pony. Deep purple coat with a lighter mane she kept short, but not so short as Godwin had seen. The most defining of her characteristics was her broken horn, just short of her forehead, and her light turquoise eyes. She wore a purple cloak with the hood down and it was open enough he could see leather and chainmail catching the light over her chest, but little more.

“This pony just showed up, Godwin. Says she can help.” The griffon with her, light gray and white with a revolver in a holster across his chest nodded to her.

Godwin fixed her a blank stare. “Have the hooflickers resorted to hiring your kind now?”

“Hi!” She spoke sarcastically through a faux happy face. “I’m Fizzlepop Berrytwist! Nice to meet you!”

Godwin didn’t find it funny, nor did he change his expression. “I know you, Tempest Shadow. The entire world knows you and what you did. Kingslayer and traitor.”

He sat with an unfriendly scowl, wrapping his tail around him. “I also know that you’re a registered mercenary with the Royal House that could very well be working for the GSA.”

She shook her head. “Wrong intel, kid. I’m working with an outfit I hired to go to Snow Mountains and set up a trap for Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance. Word on the street is that she’s likely to go there, as she needs to talk to The Lion.”

“And you want to use the teleporter.” Godwin nodded softly.

The pony shrugged. “Airships are too conspicuous… Certain teleportation companies provide privacy.”

“Except I know that the princesses have been captured in a battle between a Royal Guard detachment and a northerner warship.” He frowned.

The pony rolled her eyes, but mostly kept her composure. “Celestia and Luna left the fleet. Just a matter of time until the Changeling Queen lets them escape because it’s beneficial to her. Additionally, I’m not working for the Royal House. I’m working for Lady Gwendolen.”

“Hah! Now that’s some quality horseapples.” The griffon with the shotgun next to Godwin blurted out. “Lady Gwendolen would’ve sent the Swordmaiden.”

The pony responded with a scowl before Godwin could speak. “Gwineth is here in Griffonstone, birdbrain. She’s here to bail Master Gabriel out and doesn’t have time to help perfectly healthy griffons escape.”

“Yes… I know this is true. I talked to her.” Godwin turned to the griffon, then back to the pony. “Alright. How do we get past the GSA and the Blackfeather agent?”

“My guys are already inside.” She put a hoof on her chest before pointing at the teleporter. “We went through a service door with two northerner hens trying to get in.”

Georgia’s eyes went wide, but she restrained herself. Godwin waited for the pony to continue because she wasn’t done yet.

“The GSA had their door guarded, but two of my guys were disguised as mercenaries working for the Chancellor.” She made a gesture with her hoof. “Griffonian High Command is a mess right now and the regular grunts don’t know who’s who. We managed to get another door open.”

“Madam Gladys would have the key to the teleporter and to the back entrance.” Georgia frowned. “And know the activation command.”

“But as I said, they couldn’t enter because the GSA was guarding their door.” The pony repeated herself with a frown before she grimaced. “Wait! What the… That was Madam Gladys?”

Something went unsaid and Godwin saw it in her eyes. Ponies were bad at hiding their emotions and something clearly had gone wrong for her. But he didn’t know what it was. One of his charges, a young green queen stared at him. She worked for Lady Gwendolen’s front company that was the teleporter’s operator under Madam Gladys. And was going to say something, but Godwin shook his head at her. She knew the activation command, but the pony didn’t need to know that.

“Alright.” He faced the pony again. He didn’t like it, but it was unlikely they would be able to enter without help. “Can you get us inside? Help us deal with the GSA outside?”

“I can get you inside, kid.” She kept her expression serious. “Attacking the Griffonian Military is another story.”

“It’s better than to attack them head on, Godwin.” The shotgun griffon didn’t seem happy, but his eyes showed certainty.

Godwin nodded at the pony, and she pointed the way back into the alleyway before leading them and speaking. “Fortunately, one of the teleporter operators doesn’t close their service entrance like they should.”

Something was wrong. Godwin knew Madam Gladys would’ve had any GSA grunt around her finger with a few words. Maybe she didn’t have the choice to talk to them. Maybe she and Mamma were forced to use another entrance because theirs was too heavily guarded? Maybe they met the pony and her mercenaries and decided to work together? Mamma would have a group of fleeing griffons with her too… All that factored in. Maybe the pony was speaking the truth.

It was a short, quick, and silent walk in between and behind the buildings. They stumbled across two griffons working in the night to clear the dumpsters, but the pair cleared out as soon as they saw the armed griffons.

The fleeing griffons and pony circled the teleporter and the plaza. From another alley they saw the chain-link fence that surrounded the facility’s sides and back. Behind were the wide doors that allowed teleporter operators to supply whatever luxuries they had to offer their customers without disrupting services. Marked by signs above doors were the names of each corresponding operator, dozens of them. But the one they wanted was easy to see due to the magic-cut hole in the fence and the two inconspicuous griffons in leather armor by it.

Contrived. That was the word in Godwin’s head as he helped usher the griffons under his guard through the hole in the fence. If anything, they were getting in, but it was difficult to believe that the GSA wouldn’t have all the entrances to the building secured. Yet Tempest Shadow had said that they were confused with the different mercenary outfits operating in the city. That was the sort of thing his teachers had taught him to be aware of, but they needed the unicorn’s help to enter, and the mercenaries guarding the door were griffons. Of the rugged kind, with the appearance of years of mercenary work.

They entered through a dark loading bay with a few portable magical lanterns for dim lighting and went through the access behind a store. The two guards followed and locked the gate behind them. Most of the noise was silent griffons walking and the Blackfeather offier outside with his megaphone. It was a gift shop, with countless cheap items about Griffonstone. They included happy wooden griffons waving for keyrings and one of those snow globes with Fort King Grover or of his statue. Lots of pointless things to see that didn’t interest Godwin as they quickly traversed the shop.

Shutters to the other side didn’t allow them to see beyond, but they heard arguing. That prompted Tempest Shadow to hurry and kick one of the shutters with a foreleg. On the other side they pushed the thing up.

The shop opened to the concourse, with the ticket selling stands and the lines painted in the floor which guided users to their chosen teleportation platforms. The magical lamps in the high ceiling were off, but more of the portable lights dimly illuminated the whole place. There were many closed doors to the individual rooms owned by each company. The only open door was the one with the luxurious sitting area that belonged to Wild North Teleportations, the front for the northerner operations in the teleporter.

Several griffons in customized leather armor and armed with a variety of deadly tools guarded the immediate area in between the shop and the Wild North owned rooms. There were also ponies equipped with similar gear, but theirs had more decorations and obviously magical items, such as talismans and other things Godwing was sure were forbidden.

Two scared unicorns talked to the griffon mercenaries in the middle of the area. They wore the chain-link wristbands the northerners gave to their thralls and one of them, a sand-colored stallion cowered on the floor with his hooves over his face.

The other, a lime and green mare sat against the wall hiding behind her hooves as a large griffon guy talked to her. “I swear mister! I can only operate the teleporter magical system! I can’t activate it!”

The armed ponies all wore face masks, and their gear carefully hid their cutie marks, but all that seemed meaningless. It seemed a tall pony and a short griffon were the ones discussing over the bodies, but they had stopped. Beneath them laid on the floor two griffonesses in a pool of drying blood. Tied limbs, beaks, and Godwin turned away with a gasp.

“Mamma!” Georgia shrieked and lunged forward. Their baby sister fell from her back and started crying. Godwin didn’t understand what he was feeling as he blinked and looked again at the impossible, grim scene. Gahra held Georgia and urged her to calm down. One of the griffons with them picked their younger sibling. Godwin’s eyes fixed on the griffon Tempest Shadow talked to.

“Gaki! What the heck is this?!” Tempest Shadow yelled at one of the griffon mercenaries with a fury he didn’t think ponies were capable of. Her target was a rugged, if short gray and dark-gray griffon in leather armor with chainmail and scraped plates added to it. He had a war hammer on his back and a revolver in front of his chest. His armor had pockets added to it, and he had a cruel smirk on his face. “You were just supposed to help us in!”

At the outburst several of the armed griffons raised their short swords, crossbows and one or two muskets. The closest of the ponies with a covered face took a step forward. A tall and elegant white mare with a pearlescent sheen in her coat. She wore a white plate armor and hid her face with a fox mask, speaking with a canterlotian accent through it.

“I tried to stop them, Tempest.” Her very soft pink mane waved on its length as she stomped the floor. “But these bloodthirsty savages wouldn’t listen.”

The griffon Tempest had called Gaki shrugged. “These northerner witches are better dead, T. Might as well kill the kid too, ‘cause she’s likely one of them.”

He drew a knife with a broken edge from his side and made to walk towards Godwin’s sister and the adult that held her. But the unicorn’s eyes were more intimidating than her angry voice. Her years pulled back and she stepped forcefully in his way.

He stared at her for a second before he sheathed the knife. “Fine. The Blackfeather guy is gonna pay more for her alive anyways.”

“What?!” Tempest growled.

“Ah, don’t start it T.” Gaki deadpanned. “You’ll get the teleporter functioning and you can go catch your target. You wouldn’t understand. These northerners are trouble. And if the fatherland is willing to pay for our good services, who am I to complain? Besides, I bet you never had to deal with one of these. They’ll spin your head in their talons and you won’t even know what hit you.”

“You monster!” Gahra yelled at him, still holding Godwin’s sobbing sister.

“Yeah, yeah… Whatever. Let’s go, birds. You gotta date with the Blackfeathers.” He turned to walk towards the main entrance and his griffons started herding the prisoners along. Tempest Shadow frowned, and her ponies stood with her. But they didn’t do anything. Godwin supposed she had what she wanted as they would allow her to use the teleporter eventually. No reason she would get involved further in that disgraced mess.

In the middle of sobbing griffons, as was his sister, angry mercenary ponies with masks and griffons with serious expressions, Godwin worried he wasn’t feeling anything. He simply walked along and relinquished his weapon when they demanded. The ponies didn’t mix with the griffon mercenaries and Tempest spoke silently with the mare from before, but they walked along.

They walked outside in a clump of anxious griffons. Out one of the shutters on the main entrance and into the plaza. Griffons armed with muskets and halberds took most of the griffons to wait with the others that had previously tried to enter the facility.

Georgia cried and tried to resist, but the soldiers in the green uniform took her anyway. Godwin’s emptiness worried him, and he had thought that he would kill any griffon that hurt his sister. But his eyes remained in that griffon called Gaki, and he didn’t know where his feelings had gone.

“Hey, Blackfeather!” Gaki snapped his fingers and the griffon with the megaphone went to them. “Gotcha two dead Loremasters and another group of birds that wanted to fly away.”

“You were not supposed to kill the Loremasters. Where did these ponies come from?!” The griffon was young and had a sharp voice that seemed too juvenile. He seemed barely older than Godwin himself was, and lost interest in the ponies, turning to Godwin. “Are you Colonel Gast’s son?”

He didn’t answer. Not because of training or anything. He heard what the other said, but it meant nothing to him. His eyes remained on the short mercenary as he exchanged hushed words with Tempest Shadow. The Blackfeather griffon didn’t insist. A hen, about as young as he was, really pretty, dark gray went to them. She wore a black cap adorned with a black feather and the GSA green uniform. She looked at a series of papers she held and spoke despite Georgia’s racket. “Yes, that’s him. Godwin. Those are Georgia and Giza.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I supposed the merc killed the mother and the head of their operations. Shame.”

“Madam Gladys was not a ‘head of operations’!” The angry griffon that once had a shotgun burst through the GSA soldiers, but they held him. “She was a spiritual leader! She and Madam Guella were moral compasses of our community! Do you hear me, you fucking sellsword?”

One of the soldiers hit his forehead with the butt of his musket and the angry griffon became stunned for a second, while the soldiers controlled him. The female Blackfeather approached him with a reproaching glare. “She was a dissident leader. Both of them were. And you are a traitor.”

The griffon, held by the soldiers quieted for a second. Then he frowned and the rainwater washed the blood from the injury in his forehead. Taken by a sort of serenity, the griffon undid his angry scowl and shook his head. “My Mother looks at me with pride for her prodigal son. Anything you do to me, or to my brethren, she will do a thousand times worse to you. I will witness your fate, drinking of the best wine and eating fresh caribou by Her side. And I will laugh at your cries.”

“Please…” The hen rolled her eyes. “Take him away.”

In the mess, the soldiers had stopped dragging Georgia away. But once the female officer had control of the situation her screaming resumed as they forced her to walk. The Blackfeather agent approached Godwin and held his shoulder. He was going to say something, but an older griffon shoved him away. “Don’t touch him! And let the girl go!”

It was an older griffon wearing the green uniform, with a few medals and the black cap without the feather adornment. The badge on his shoulders said he was a colonel, and the medals said he had seen his share of real soldier’s work. He was followed by four older soldiers carrying muskets. The situation drew attention and the other soldiers stopped processing the prisoners. Including Georgia and angry shotgun guy. Stares, from anxious to angry, fell over them.

“Colonel Gaspar,” the griffoness with the photos gave him an arrogant glare. “I would be more careful in the present situation. Given your friendship with Colonel Gast, you should keep to your immediate duties.”

“How dare you?!” The older officer glared back and poked the male Blackfeather with a talon. “They are kids!”

“Well, yes.” The other slapped Gaspar’s paw away. “Gast’s kid. Now, where is he? While his kid is hiding in the corners with a weapon of enemy make and an interesting collection of suspicious griffons behind him? Do you know the answer? I’m thinking, maybe, I should ask you a few questions, colonel.”

The older griffon, taken aback, didn't answer. He scowled and closed a fist. “I don’t know what is happening, Blackfeather. But I didn’t hire mercenaries to kill other griffons and arrest kids.”

“You’re right.” The younger one scowled too. “You’re right. You only make friends with potential traitors. Now, stand down and get to your job. Or I will have you arrested too!”

It seemed things would cool down and return to the efficient processing of the prisoners. In the middle of all that Godwin worried he still didn’t feel anything. No sorrow for his dead mother, nor his mentor. No fear for being captured. No anxiety over his father or what Blackfeather might do to him. No pity for his sister. And above all, no anger for the mercenary. He was just empty and waited for the grunts in the GSA green to escort him somewhere.

“There is something terribly wrong in a country where the military has the people for enemy and its leader turns to mercenaries.” A croaking voice rose above the sound of the rainfall. A young soldier escorted an old griffon. He had no clothes; his coat was gray and tarnished by old age and disease. He wore nothing but a green jacket someone had given him. Yet he walked with pride, with a raised head and very lucid blue eyes. “Because his soldiers won’t do his bidding and his secret service finds enemies everywhere.”

Godwin didn’t know who he was, but the older officer, Colonel Gaspar, was stricken with recognition and shock. It was one of Gaki’s mercenaries that spoke. His beak hung open and he shook his head. “As I live and breathe… General Gamaliel.”

“Who?” A pony behind a wolf mask asked.

“You wouldn’t know. He’s a legend from the Second Griffon War.” The griffon sellsword told him as the old griffon walked to the officers.

“Sir. I thought you had retired. That you were living in Greenleaf… That the weather was better for your health.” The GSA colonel shook his head, too stunned to remember protocol. He only saluted the older griffon after he did with a smile.

“I missed you Gaspar.” The older griffon lowered his paw. “Command took my home. Ostracized my family… Sent all my children and grandchildren to remote posts along the border. Because they know what I did for them was wrong. When they feared I might speak, they tried to ruin my life and that of all who would believe me. I am glad you escaped their onslaught. You still believe what the Blackfeather Corps tells you, after all…”

Godwin watched as the officer frowned at the elder griffon. His voice broke. “Operation Expressway.”

“That is a lie!” The hen with the black cap and feather squealed. Her feathers ruffled so much in the rain she looked almost funny. “You are bordering on treason!”

“That never happened. It is a lie, and that is why General Gamaliel was stripped of his rank. For supporting seditious misinformation. It was treason.” The younger officer’s tone would have concluded the conversation.

But one of the soldiers with a musket, raised it. One of the not so young ones in the green GSA uniform and green plate-shaped helmet. The badge on his shoulder said he was a lieutenant and his stare said he was fed up. Others followed suit. “Yeah. It’s one of ‘those’ myths. Camping stories that are ‘never true’. Time to share.”

Even more soldiers raised their weapons too, but the mercenaries didn’t want to get themselves involved. The two Blackfeather officers silenced. It was Colonel Gaspar that spoke.

“Seventeen years ago, I commanded a battalion out of Fort King Grover. We supported a Blackfeather operation to derail a train and murder two northerner terrorists moving south.” He spoke but waited after that.

It was the old Gamaliel that explained. “I commanded the operation as a colonel for the Blackfeather Corps and Gaspar commanded our support troops. We used explosives to derail the train and caused the death of thirty griffonian citizens. About twice that number were injured. As the GSA moved in pretending to assist, I and two other Blackfeather officers located the terrorists. A male and a female clutching a small fledgling under her wings.”

He stopped for a moment before he spoke again. His voice didn’t break, but he stared at the dark clouds above and the rain ran down his face. “He was dead, and I shot her. I took the fledgling because I didn’t have the courage to kill her too. After our team was done sanitizing the site, we returned to Griffonstone.”

He stared at the griffons around him before he resumed with a dark frown. “High Command took the baby from me, and I don’t know what happened to her. It was unpleasant, but I understood it had to be done. And that was it. It was over. Mission successful, we protected Griffonia. Until the end of the year I attended the Grand Galloping Gala as a representative for the GSA. I overheard Princess Celestia mentioning a friend of hers that had passed away in a train accident.”

Godwin had heard of it, but never paid attention to the story. It was mentioned somewhere, at some point as he grew up. But that wasn’t what drew his attention. It was the old griffon earnest, pained expression and what he spoke next surrounded by silent griffons in the rain.

“It nagged at me. I looked further into it and, after pulling some favors, I found the names of the terrorists. The male griffon I found dead was Gembert Steelbender, a famous and acclaimed blacksmith from Griffindell, and the mother I shot was Gaharjet Stormborn. She was a ranger from Frozenlake, a cousin to High Lady Geena of Frozenlake.” He stopped again, his old lungs catching the air. “I traveled there and met Lady Geena. I asked her about the couple, and she told me a story about six heroes that had killed a vile ice dragon, and one of them was Princess Celestia. The couple we murdered were two revered heroes. They wanted the Princess to meet their daughter as she was a friend and a companion on their quest. And that was what they were doing in that train.”

He inhaled deeply and his voice almost broke. “I told her what I had done. And I feared she would command her guards to kill me.”

He stopped again. “I wish she had done so. Instead, she told me that I had failed my race. That I had forsaken all that makes our kind great, and that the blood of Stormborn was wasted on me. That one day the Storm would catch up to me, and that not even the Matriarch of the Great Herd would give me succor. That the sins of our race would see to my fall, and she needed not soil her honor on me.”

He frowned. “She didn’t even order me to leave… But the days passed on my journey home and my consciousness ragged at me. I couldn’t sleep the whole way to Griffonstone. I confronted my superiors and they threatened to strip me of my rank and to retaliate on my family. Operation Expressway had never happened.”

“I was too much of a coward.” He closed his eyes and stared at the storm above again, as though there was something there that comforted him. “I caved. I kept this secret until now and only when they decided to send our soldiers north against The Lion I found my courage and confronted them again. For sending our young to fight griffons much more honored than they are! All because the Chancellor is too much of a coward to admit he is the last in a line of failed leaders that needs to end!”

He lowered his gaze. “He’s not the only one. Few good officers are promoted. The main reason anyone is promoted is the right connections. We don’t even have the sense of training them to be competent. It’s a cycle that is so old we don’t remember when it started, and it grew so large, it is only by the competence of a few officers we have a functional army.”

“I never understood why they had ordered the couple dead. Were they too strong supporters of The Lion? Maybe they represented something our leadership fears.” He coughed and Colonel Gaspar helped him keep firm on his paws. “I should have done something! But I was too much of a coward! I had friends! But I was afraid to do anything. I was afraid the Chancellor’s Office would strip me of my rank and take my comforts. Retaliate against my family in the army. And even when I didn’t do anything, they still took my home, my family… And left me to die in the streets. I had become a liability to them.”

Like it was witness to everything, the clouds flashed and roared. A deep thunder echoed in the buildings that surrounded the plaza. All Godwin heard was the rain splattering on the cobblestone. The whole assembly of griffons and ponies had grown silent and contemplative. A secret was bared and they processed what they had been told.

“Yo, this is messed up!” It was one of the younger soldiers that finally spoke. Dark brown, barely an adult carrying a musket on his back and wearing the green uniform. “The Lion kills monsters, and our bosses kill moms holding their fledglings! What the feather?”

“This is so much bullshit!” Another, green and yellow, young soldier cried. “The ponies get the cool princesses and the magical ass-kicking team. And all we get are the messed-up politicians! I can’t remember a time when I was proud of our Chancellors!”

“Geez, look at these morons.” The mercenary Gaki spat on the floor. “This is why the northerners love this honor bullshit.”

Another griffon mercenary close to him chuckled. “One sob story and these guys turn.”

“Shut up, merc!” Yet another soldier bumped the shoulder of his weapon at the cobblestone. “We joined because Griffonia needs griffons to protect her. But every time I hear something about my superiors it’s some dumb scandal. Yet when I hear of The Lion it’s always about something stupid we did, like sending our soldiers North behind Celestia’s back. Or stories about northerners killing a dragon! Last time we fought monsters we ended up burning a whole city block because of the giant spiders in a warehouse. The media still makes fun of us.”

He threw his musket at the ground. “Why are we like this? Even the ponies everyone makes jokes about being too nice have better equipment and get shit done when monsters attack their towns. And now you’re telling me my oh-so-wise commanders disowned an old general from the Second Griffon War for asking them not to send our guys to die in the North?”

“What the fuck?! Am I going mad?” He still ragged on. “Because I remember the Second Griffon War was fought over hunting rights against The Lion’s grandfather! But then the very same general is now siding with the Northerners because suddenly we kill heroes and mothers with their babies? And our commanders try to sweep the whole thing under the rug? I feel like I’m the villain in this whole mess!”

“You don’t know what you are talking about!” The female Blackfeather officer yelled.

But soldiers started yelling too, and the mercenaries became nervous. The male Blackfeather officer shook his head and made calming gestures. “This is crazy! Just because we have a flawed system, there is no excuse to replace it with an authoritarian nut job that is likely to make things worse!”

“Shut up!” One of the soldiers further away yelled. “I joined to defend Griffonia! The Lion, at least, is not going to make me kill an injured mother holding her child!”

“But Lady Gwendolen will!” The griffon from the Blackfeather Corps yelled back before he calmed himself. “The northerners won’t tell you, but they worship an ancient griffon goddess. She was responsible for the creation of an empire that spanned all the lands from the Frozen North to the Saddle Arabian beaches. They ate and sacrificed ponies. They enslaved diamond dogs. They raided towns and killed until the others had enough. The ponies led the rest of the world in a war that ended the empire and put King Grover in power. He and Celestia made up the whole story about Grover unifying the warlords because they wanted to bury the old empire’s religion and their goddess with it. Is that what you want? A psycho with powers you don’t understand splitting with the Equestrian Federation? And his wife bringing back a dangerous cult Princess Celestia wanted gone?! Is that what you numbskulls want?”

“How do you know that?” One of the northerner supporters cried. “That is not what She wants. Lady Gwendolen wants griffons united under Her. Like the ponies are under Celestia.”

“Good question.” Tempest Shadow cleared her throat. “Pray tell how you know all that? I doubt the Northerners are forthcoming.”

“Operation Blacktalon.” The young officer stared back at the pony. “Blackfeather hired Flying Snake to infiltrate Snow Mountains.”

“The Flying Snake?!” Gaki laughed. “The crazy veteran with the whaling ship and the Diamond Dogs?! ‘The’ Flying Snake? He’s helping Celestia capture the princesses, all the way across the ocean.”

“It was years ago.” The female officer explained like she talked to an idiot.

“We sent him to find evidence of what the northerners were doing with the iron they were supposed to be shipping south!” The male officer didn’t let the mercenary disturb him. “We don’t know what happened, but a team of changeling infiltrators turned out dead. In the airship battle south of Baltimare he spilled that he was captured during the mission and that the northerners are holding his daughter hostage! Why else do you think he showed up in a fight between the Royal Guard and a northerner military airship?”

“What you knuckle draggers don’t get is that everything has been orchestrated.” The female officer cried. “Lady Gwendolen speaks on behalf of their goddess and has Loremasters infiltrated all over our command structure. All the way to Canterlot! We, Blackfeathers, are protecting you numbskulls from becoming zealots for a twisted monster that likes eating ponies and watching griffons grovel for her!”

“Wait a second!” Tempest waved her hoof. “How in the ever-loving hoof isn’t Celestia involved in all of this mess?”

The officer breathed for a while and his female companion talked in his place. “She supports The Lion! All evidence we were going to rub in her face hinged on Flying Snake’s mission! But he never came back.”

She took her cap and threw it at the ground. “This Gwendolen hoe is responsible for all the mess that’s happened, and you bozos want to fight for her mate! You think he’s gonna save you, but he’s gonna let her feed you to her goddess!”

“Do you birds want to know what I think?” Tempest Shadow clopped her hoof on the stone and looked grim.

“No matter who makes the plans…” The unicorn mare continued. “There is always someone that gives the order. Someone that points the hoof. And, in the end, there is always someone who pulls the trigger.”

“Gwendolen may have set up things, and I don’t know about this goddess nonsense. But it was still your head-honchos that actually did everything.” She concluded. “She set a trap, and they fell for it. Like she was making a point, and they proved it for her.”

It took a while, but griffons started agreeing. Thoughtful expressions turned angry and shut beaks started mumbling. Humors started to rise further and some of the soldiers started crying death to the Chancellor and hailing The Lion.

“This is treason!” The female Blackfeather officer cried high-pitched and scared. The soldiers started screaming and shoving up their weapons. Wings flapped and feathers flew.

Colonel Gaspar kept his calm and slowly opened the buttons in his uniform. Removed his uniform and threw it at the ground. “This is a mutiny.”

Much to the terror of the pair, the soldiers followed in his example as he pointed at the paddocks where the prisoners were put. “Let them go and give their weapons back. We’re seizing control of the teleporter. Find the fleeing civilians, protect them, and bring them here. We’re joining The Lion.”

Amid whoops and cries, the mercenary boss Gaki shook his head and signaled to his griffons. “Screw this. This job is messed up. Let’s go, boys.”

Outnumbered, the mercenary griffons started walking. The ponies remained, and Tempest Shadow remained with them.

And, finally, Godwin felt something… Anger boiled in his chest and found its way to his throat. “You are going nowhere except the Scorch.”

Colonel Gaspar drew a pistol. Muskets soon followed, leveled at the griffon mercenaries. They stopped and raised their paws, sitting on their haunches. Soldiers weren’t happy and some fingers trembled on triggers. Someone shoved the two Blackfeather officers next to the griffon mercenaries.

Then Colonel Gaspar offered his weapon to the young griffon that was Godwin. He secured it under his wing and walked to the mercenary leader.

He received a hard stare back from the mercenary as he walked. Standing next to the short and scarred griffon, Godwin sat and yielded the weapon. A standard issue matchlock pistol of the Griffonian Standing Army. He pointed it up and his sister joined his side.

The sky erupted in flashing light and roaring thunder. Louder. Brighter. But no one reacted. Time stood still and his heart raced with the resounding roar. In the echoing voice of the storm, he heard a sharp cry. It turned into words only his heart listened to, as the pouring rain said nothing outside.

All that I am. Anger. Cruelty. Vengeance. I have bestowed upon My Children. I have granted you the Gift of Wrath so that you would herald my Commandment upon the world. Yet, as the Wheel of Time spun, I gazed upon My Children. They hid from The Storm and turned their gaze from me. As the Wheel spins again, they are fat with gold bright as the Sun and they must be taught that sin is not forgotten. That the Blood of My Chosen is expensive to shed.

“Lay down.” Godwin commanded. Soldiers armed with muskets pointed them at the others and one ordered them to distance themselves.

Alone, Gaki nodded and obeyed. “Fine.”

He laid flat on his stomach and stared up at Godwin, and then up the barrel of the weapon. Both drenched in rain, finally, Godwin let a smile show, looking down at the mercenary. He had found where all the anger had gone. He found it all in the lead ball inside the weapon.

“Killing me isn’t not gonna bring mum back, kid.” Gaki told him with the resignation of a convicted criminal. “It’s only gonna make you feel worse, because it won’t change anything, and I’ll be gone.”

Godwin smiled a little more as the laughing voice echoed amid his thoughts. “That is not it. I’m thinking of what the Mother of Storms will do when she sinks her talons on your soul. An apostate Saddani carrying a purse full of golden coins with Celestia’s face and the blood of Her Children.”

Georgia started giggling and he chuckled at the confused griffon.

And then he pulled the trigger. The griffon slumped dead before them, and distant thunder rolled in the clouds. Georgia’s insane giggling turned to sobbing again and Miss Gahra held her as it became bawling.

Godwin raised the pistol, bending his foreleg, still staring at the dead griffon in front of him and the blood that pooled in the stony ground of the plaza. The rain washed it away.

The mercenary lied. It did feel good, and his smile showed it.

Mighty are the convictions of My Children who had their souls tempered in the heat of wrath. Mightier still is the mettle of he who understands the price of sin and quickly the reward delivers. I smile upon you, beautiful Child of Mine, and under the wings of the Swordmaiden of the Shadanni you shall find respite. Your blood is precious to me, and I shall hold it for my favorites. Thus, do not tarry in the muddled land of the Saddani.

Before long Colonel Gaspar held him and gently grabbed the spent weapon. Godwin let go without resistance and turned to Tempest Shadow. “We’ll let you through. But… Don’t ever let me see you again, pony.”

She nodded. She had respect in her eyes. Maybe a little sadness. But she nodded. “Let’s get this teleporter working. There are more of you on the way.”

Comments

[Kevin Lee]

It may take three or five rereadings of this chapter to understand what just happened.

[Metemponychosis]

11235646
Ok, that's bad. What's the issue?

[new55]

That was a good chapter. I wonder how Celestia is going to respond to it.

[Metemponychosis]

11247091
Glad you liked it. I'm working in the next part right now.

[Jinnchin]

So Tempests primary mission was to intercept Cadence and Twilight? Man, I now things want badly for her in the North, but I didn't realize it was over something that wasn't even her primary goal!

[Metemponychosis]

11835309
She's lying to Godwin. Her goal was to get to Gilda both for the bounty and for revenge. She needed to use the teleporter because she needed to get to Gilda before she got too deep in Snow Mountain.